Rabbit Hair Health

[joanmahfood]

I have a Lionhead Dwarf rabbit his name is George. Last night he started what I thought preening his fur and he was actually ripping it out. He also did it again this morning. He has never done this before and I was wondering if anyone else has had this happen. I am trying to spray him with flea & tick spray but he is not cooperating. HELP!

[Dwarfbunny87]

Where is "he" pulling it from? I ask because a doe (female) will pull fur from her belly and sides before giving birth.

Pat
http://www.carrollshalfpints.weebly.com

[joanmahfood]

Hi Pat,

He was pulling it from under his chin and his sides. Then he would keep all the fur in his mouth and carry it around with him and then he spit out the hair and made a little like nest with it on his blanket. He got mad when I picked it up and took it away.

How do you know whether it is a male or female? We got him as a rescued rabbit so we don't really know. We always thought he was a male rabbit because he would get on top of it and hump his plush basketball toy that he loves to play with. He has never been around any other rabbits so I don't think he is pregnant but could he be having a false pregnancy?

We just love him and I worry about him. I am glad I found this website. Thanks for your help and any other thoughts you might have about him.

Joan

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"He" was pulling his hair from under his chin and his sides. Then he would hold all the hair inside his mouth and then he spit it out on his blanket and was moving it into what looked like a nest. "He" got mad when I took it from him. "He" has never been around any other rabbits so I don't think "he" is pregnant, but maybe a false pregnancy?

We took "him" in from being rescued and we love "him". But how do you find out what sex "he" is? "He" will not let us examine him. I know "he" is only 1 year old but we are his 4th or 5th owners and he has abandonment issues and I will never let anything else happen to him b/c he has had such a hard 1st year for a rabbit.

Thanks for you help and hopefully you can advise me further on helping George!

Joan

[Dwarfbunny87]

Hi Joan,

Well if your Lionhead is a year old then telling its sex is easy. You need to pick him/her up by using your dominant hand to grab the scruff area behind the neck and as you lift the bunny up, take your other hand and cup it under its rear end so that you are putting the rabbit in a cradle-like position. If it's a Buck (male) you will definitely see his Testicles right above his tail. If there are none then you have a doe (female). This method of picking up the rabbit will not hurt him/her, instead it will make her feel more secure and give you better control.

From your description of your Lionhead's behavior, I'm willing to bet money that she is a Doe, LOL!

If you put a doe in with a buck when she is really ready to be bred she will try to hump him as much as he does her. So her behavior is completely normal. So is her flighty attitude.

Most does tend to not make great pets for this reason. They can be testy and even down right mean. They will make grunting sounds and they can lounge at and even bite their caregiver. Belive it or not...that behavior has nothing to do with abandonment issues. It's just the Nature of some does. Not all..but some.

Yes, does can have a "false pregnancy". A rabbit's Gestation period is only 28-34 days with the average being 31 days. So as long as you are sure she hasn't been around a buck in the last month then I would say she's having a false pregnancy.

In the future if you need to treat her for fleas,ticks or ear mites. do not use spray. Instead go to a store that sells horse supplies and buy a tube of horse deworming paste containing Ivermectin. Give your rabbit a pea-sized drop on a toothpick orally. Then repeat in 10 days. This will kill all blood-sucking parasites your rabbit may have.

Please feel free to ask me any rabbit questions you may have. I will help you all I can. We have raised and shown Dwarfs for many years.

Good luck with your bunny!

Pat

[joanmahfood]

Hi Pat,

Thanks for all the information. He is the cutest bunny I have ever seen. He has so much personality. We have alot of enjoyment with him. I will try to find out the sex today. He is a very moody rabbit. He loves to play with us and licks us and cuddles, but does not like to be picked up or held. We have to force that on him when we have to do it. He was abandoned and because of it has cage issues. He was abandoned by his last owners. They moved away and left him in his cage and he eventually ran out of food and water before he was discovered by the girl who gave him to us. That's why we say he as abandonment issues. I think he was abused somewhat too. He is very afraid of males (my husband and son and any male that comes into the house). That is also one of the reasons we thought he was a male because he will pee on any male that enters my house once he gets used to them being there.

We have never owned a rabbit before so everything is new to us. We truly enjoy having him. He has full run of our family room as long as one of us can supervise him. I bought him a leash and have taken him outside in the yard 3 times so far. He doesn't like to let me put the leash on, but once I get him outside he loves it and will sit in the grass or under a bush and chill. Maybe I shouldn't take him out anymore. My husband still thinks he might have fleas but I never see him scratching a whole lot and I just cleaned out his cage today and put fresh bedding in and there were no fleas in that either. I change his bedding every week, but clean out his droppings every day. If he had fleas I would assume they would also be in his bedding. What do you think?

Thanks again for all your information. I really needed it being so new to pet rabbit care.

Joan

[Dwarfbunny87]

Joan,

Well anytime you have an animal outside for any length of time there is always the possibility that they could pick up fleas. The only time you may see fleas anywhere but on the rabbit is if they were infested with them.

I am glad you are enjoying your new bunny so much. Yes they do have a big personality. They tend to think they are the "boss", LOL!

They can be quite playful. Since ours are mostly in their cages, we give them non-toxic plastic easter eggs to play with. They will roll them around and if they come apart they will toss them all over the cage making for big fun!

Just because we breed and show ours doesn't mean we aren't concerned for their happiness. We pet them, love on them and provide something for them to play with so they aren't bored to death.

In case you didn't know, your bunny will need its toenails trimmed about every month or so. This can be done using dog or cat nail trimmers. If you don't feel comfortable doing it yourselves you can have a Vet do it for you.

Let me know when you find out what sex your bunny is!

Good Luck,
Pat

[joanmahfood]

Thanks again. George is a Doe. The kids want to name her snuggles again but I told them since she is used to being called George we should name her Georgie Girl, Georgina or Georgia so that we don't confuse her. I am having her nails cut tomorrow. My neighbor is coming over to do it. They have had many rabbits and guinea pigs so he is very good at cutting their nails. I hope you didn't think that I was implying that you don't play with your rabbits. I was just sharing what we have been doing with ours because I always feel so bad for her. She was just pulling her hair out again and she went and spit it out behind the couch. I'm going to leave it alone because she was pissed when she did it before and I picked up her nest of hair and threw it away.

I have never seen any fleas on her so I'm going to wait to treat her again by your method (hopefully I will find the stuff you recommended) and give her some time for her to go through her "false pregnancy".

I never thought of the plastic easter eggs...that is a great idea. George has picked out his own toys from plush animals, etc. he has found in the kids toys but I think she would enjoy playing with the eggs.

Thanks, Joan

[Dwarfbunny87]

Joan,

Ah ha...I knew it, LOL! All the behavior you described just screamed Doe.

Oh no, you did not imply anything. I just wanted you to know that we consider our rabbit's well being in all ways. Many times people who have rabbits as house pets tend to get the wrong impression of some of us breeders. I just wanted to be sure you knew that we genuinely care for our rabbits whether we had 1 or a 100.

I am glad you have someone who can help you with the nail trimming. Way better than paying a vet to do it!

To help satisfy her want to build a nest, you might try getting a small cardboard box just big enough for her to jump into and be able to turn around in (like a shoebox) and put it where she is leaving the hair. That way she has a special place to do her thing.

We provide wooden next boxes for our does to have their kits in. We put a few shavings in the bottom then add some straw and when it's time to give birth (called kindling in rabbits) she will pull lots of fur and line her nest. After the kits are born, she will pull more and cover them with it because they are born without fur and eyes closed. This way they don't chill to death. The doe will stay away from the kits except for going in the nest once a day to nurse them which they do by standing over the top of the kits.
It's really neat to see if you can catch them in the act as they often do it in the middle of the night.

I just thought you'd enjoy knowing that, lol! Rabbits are fun to raise. We really enjoy them.

Ok, I better get to bed. Have a great weekend and Happy Mother's Day too!!!

Pat